The Fire Never Dies
by ArtsAwesome
Summary: Jared Ollivander is nothing special. He have horrible grades. He is bad at quidditch. He is not good with girls. And he is definitely not star of Hogwarts school. But, when it turns out that he is Harry Potter, brother of boy-who-lived, everything changes. He will not hold back any more. WBWL story.
1. Chapter 1, Secret is Out

Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was shocked. It was very rare for him to lose the twinkle in his eyes and drop his jaw, but the knowledge that Harry Potter is alive, doing well and stayed hidden somewhere in his school had done the trick. It was seven long years, seven years, since someone saw the boy; seven years since the boy ran away from his neglecting family.

When Dumbledore learnt that the boy had run away, he rushed into his office to find Book of Students of Hogwarts. However upon opening it, he never found the name of Harry Potter; that meant the twin was dead. To Dumbledore the death of elder twin always been a double-edged sword; it seemed like the fate, itself finally proved him right by illuminating another twin, but the worries never left him, eating him from inside. On countless occasions, old man asked himself _'What if I chose wrong? What if the world will pay for my mistake?'_, but the answer was always the same dark silence.

And just seconds ago when he saw the boy's name on the piece of paper, some of his worries were destroyed and even more of them had arrived. Once again, he was on the crossroad of choices, looking and searching for a clue which will tell him which twin is the chosen.

Slowly emerging from his thoughts, Dumbledore called "Harry Potter!"

All whispers which surrounded the great hall had stopped; students exchanged confused looks, but after the realisation slowly sank into them, they turned their heads to the headmaster with shocked expressions. Never in the history of Hogwarts, had the great hall been that silent. Everyone, even the foreign and the muggleborns knew the story of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Was-Forgotten. When his death came out it, it got into every newspaper of the magical Europe.

Dumbledore scanned over Gryffindor Table in search for the other twin, Jeremy Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. The younger twin sat near his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. His face expressed several emotions; the biggest of them being regret, regret for being arrogant ass and not helping his brother. He could have always called Harry to join him in games and flying… or at least ask mom and dad to treat his twin as an equal, but he never did. He wanted parents' attention for himself and himself, only. _'May be Snape was right after all'_ he thought _'I'm an attention seeking brat'_. But when, he understood he was wrong, it was too late.

Silence was broken by a light whimper, Lily Potter, the Muggle Studies professor was crying. Her face in her hands, she had large tears streaming down her hands.

When Harry ran away it hit her hard, but not nearly as hard as when she learnt that her little baby died. After the suicide attempt which was stopped by James, Lily didn't eat, sleep or talk for a very long time. Her attitude to life only changed after she found Jeremy crying in the kitchen. It made her realize that she still had reasons to live; it made her realize, she needed to let go, look into future and be strong for Jeremy and James.

Reminding herself of that fact, Lily whipped her face and raised her head to see a boy from Slytherin standing.

The boy did not look like anything special. He had short blond hair, common brown eyes and rather ugly crooked nose. His face expressed complete boredom as he slowly walked to the trophy room.

"Where do you think you are going, Mr. Ollivander?" Severus Snape, head of the Slytherin House asked in cold tones.

Even though the boy was in his house, Severus never liked him. He was… strange, peculiar. He moved like a potion master in the potion classes, but his potions were only better than Longbottom's, he always been quiet and never talk to anyone without any reasons and lastly, he had been protected by Occlumency.

Over years, Snape's suspicions disappeared, but now they came back with full strength.

The boy stopped walking and turned to his potions' teacher. Looking over him, he smirked and slowly, almost theatrically made his face morph into another. His olive coloured turned pale, almost vampire white. His short hair got longer, messier and switched its colour to coal-black. His thick eyelashes got thinner and longer. His common brown eyes were swapped for another deep, mesmerizing green. But the most notable change was the scar, the scar in the shape of the lightning bolt.

Many elder teachers who still remembered James Potter gasped loudly. Students' eyes kept traveling from one twin to another as if they were searching for any other differences, but the hair colour. However when none were found, even the most stubborn students like Ron Weasley had to accept that the boy in front of them was the Harry Potter.

As she saw the boy transform, Lily followed her first reaction to hug him, but one cold look from her own green eyes was more than enough to stop her dead on her track.

"I hope, this makes everything clear, professor." Said newly established Harry Potter; then, he quickly strode up the large wooden door and slammed it shut.

Once inside, Harry slowed down and tried to calm down; he was angry at everything and when his emotions got better of him, disasters of mega proportions tend to happened.

As he passed last staircase, Harry finally saw his 'competition'.

Victor Krum stood near windows, looking outside. His face expressed no emotions and he did not even turn to look at intruder.

Cedric, who was examining different medals and trinkets, looked at him with friendly and curious eyes which easily reflected why he got into Hufflepuff.

French Champion, Fleur Delacour sat on a very soft, red armchair and was the very meaning of elegance. She looked at him and asked in heavy accent "Do zey want us back?"

Leaning against the wall near fireplace, Harry tried to reply "No…"

But he was interrupted by a plump man who practically rolled down the stairs with excitement "Ho! Ho! Marvelous! Absolutely Marvelous! Long lost son returns to the family by being entered into the Tri-Wizard Tournament! This will be the first page of tomorrows Prophet! I guarantee you…"

Happy being with the name of Ludo Bagman was quickly shoved away by a very large woman. She looked furious as she put a light sound barrier. "Dumbledore! The Tournament was supposed to be about the cooperation between schools! Sharing knowledge, tricks and ways of magic between different countries! And you! You managed to cheat before the First Task! Two Champions from Hogwarts, this is absurd!" She shouted clearing something for three fair champions. The huge women was quickly followed by another headmaster "I Agree completely, Madam Maxim! I'm not participating in this… umnn" The man stopped for a second searching for right word "…farce. I and my students will leave tomorrow." Karkarov looked at Dumbledore with disgust and spat near his leg.

The last man entered the room. His face was hidden in the shadow, but everyone could see old auror's robes, wooden pegleg and a steel flask in his hand. With speed which was unusual for someone on one leg, the man moved forward revealing scared face and gouged eye which was replaced by a creepy looking sphere. Looking over headmaster of Durmstrang with both of his eyes, he spoke in with low, bass voice "You can't leave Karkarov and you know it! Goblet of Fire creates magically bonding contract. If you want to see your star seeker alive and well, you better participate.

"Is it a threat, I hear?" asked Karkarov with the steel in his voice.

"No, of course not, it is just a warning." Replied Mad-Eye Moody as a creepy smile fell in his face.

Everyone stood there in awkward silence until confused Cedric Diggory asked "May I inquire, what is going on?"

"Someone is trying to off Potter! That is what is going on, Lad." Moody said, confusing Cedric even more.

"Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder someone before lunchtime." Karkarov mocked the auror, sarcastically.

"Are you all idiots!? The lad hid under other name in school for several years! Do you really think, he would blow his cover for some money? Are you seriously that daft? Someone is trying to kill the boy or injure him; the only way to meddle with Goblet of Fire is to use strong _'Imperio'_ or _'Confundus'_ on it! No fourth year student can do such thing!" Explained Mad-Eye as his magical eye stopped and focused on the boy.

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this, Mad-Eye?"

"Of course I did, that is my job here other than to teach kids." Moody retorted, quickly.

Fleur stood up from her comfortable chair and asked angrily "So, you great Mad-Eye Moody actually let someone get zrough to the cup? Seems rather suspicious to me…"

"You dare call me a liar, lassie?" Asked Moody as his magical eye focused on the girl and his brows furred together angrily.

"I did not say zat!" The French replied innocently "But it does not matter if Hogwarts cheated or not; ze boy is too young!"

Her statement made the boy's eyes open "I do not think you understand the nature of magical bonding contract, Ms. Delacour. I'm just as angry as you are that I was entered, but I can do nothing about it…"

"You should be grateful zat someone entered your name. You get a chance to prove yourself and earn eternal glory." She interrupted him in cold tones and rolled her eyes.

"Well… let's see. Eternal Glory, hah? Then, do me a favor, Ms. Delacour, please tell me the last winner of the Tri-Wizard Tournament." Harry paused, waiting for answers. When none came, Harry playfully hit his forehead and said "Oh wait! I know that! It was no one! All of the champions died in the First Task. So… in a way you get eternal glory, but I do not want to be remembered as Poor-Boy-Who-Lived's-Brother-Who-Died-In-First-Task-Of-Tri-Wizard-Tournament; and about money, one thousand galleons is not a lot for me, my own vault is much bigger than that. But if you still do not believe me" Harry slowly took his wand out and said "I, Harry James Potter solemnly swear my life and magic that I did not put my name into Goblet of Fire, nor did I ask anyone else put it in for me." With bright light, Harry finished his oath and asked smiling "Happy, Ms. Delacour?"

"Now that it is settled, let's proceed with the tournament." Dumbledore, who was thinking quietly in the corner, finally said something "Barty, will you do the honour?"

"Well, thank you Dumbledore." Said Barty Crouch, highly annoyed; he was still busy calming everyone down after the World Cup accident and this was waste of precious time in his eyes; return of the 'dead' Potter made things more interesting, of course… but it was still a waste. "There are five important Tri-Wizard Events. First of all, the Wand Lifting Ceremony; we will be calling Ollivander of Ollivanders to check your wands for any defects." Explained Crouch slowly, making Harry twitch with happiness; his master would definitely know on how to approach this mess. "Two weeks after the ceremony, you will attend your First Task which is where we want to test your reaction to unknown danger, so you will not get any information for the task. Then, you can rest and have some fun at the Yule Ball. The Second and Third Tasks will be coming shortly afterwards; information about them would be given later. Champions, any questions? No? Good, this is where I will take my leave." Crouch waved his hand and left.

"What do you think about small celebration..?" Bagman was all in for party, but Dumbledore interrupted him and declined the offer. "Well, then… Goodbye everyone!" and Ludo left as well.

As unhappy man left, Karkarov sign to follow him as he left, but Victor knew better than to be rude to his opponents; being Quidditch super star thought him that "It vill be my honour to compete you vith."

"Honour is all ours, Krum." said his Cedric as he followed Bulgarian outside.

Ignoring leaving Fleur who was muttering about 'Little Boys' and 'British Cheaters' and her very large headmistress, Harry looked at Dumbledore and asked "Did you put my name into Goblet, Headmaster?"

"No, I did not, my boy. What made you think so?" Shocked, Dumbledore tried to probe Harry's mind to see what is going on in there, but failed. Remembering Garrick who had the same protections, Albus sighed; he was sure there was no way to get through boys defenses.

"You are the only one who had access to…" Harry felt surge of power go to his eyes. He once again thanked his master for Occlumency protections. Harry was sure that his average Occlumency shields would have not protected him.

***FLASHBACK***

"Harry, are you sure about this?" asked Garrick Ollivander with concern in his voice. _'How badly is he treated by his family?'_ Wandmaker asked himself _'He have been visiting the alley for two years now!'_

Old wandmaker knew he could not have a child. When he was thirty, one of his experiments with combining Whomping Willow's wood and Chinese Fireball's heartstring went completely wrong and exploded his workshop. He spent three month growing back his bones and flesh in St. Mungo. One of the many injuries took away his ability to make children, turning his head to search for students which could keep the Ollivander's way of making wands alive.

Harry Potter who visited him nearly every day had been perfect for the role; he was smart, patient and knowledgable for a child. But Garrick still had his doubts about everything; the future of his family name depended on his decision.

"Harry, when you will become my apprentice… It will be point of no return. You will never be able to return back to your family…" Garrick saw the boy's smile turned into cure scowl and continued "The training will be really hard; I will ask you for things which even Hogwarts' students can't do…"

"Mr. Ollivander, no matter how hard the training will be, it can't be worse than being ignored by your own parents. So I gratefully accept your offer to become your apprentice, now where do we begin?" asked the boy impatiently.

Ollivander chuckled at boy's enthusiasm "Well then, tomorrow, we will start your training it will give me enough time to plan first lessens and for you to pack. Oh and wear those please." Garrick picked out a small box from the highest drawer and opened it, revealing two small, round artifacts.

Looking through the clear glass of the artifact, Harry wondered "What are these? I can recognize the _'protection' _rune, but I can't quiet see the others."

As Harry spoke, Garrick smiled and nodded. His soon to be apprentice was definitely an ancient runes protégée; runic seals were drown with use magic, making them invisible to anyone who had yet to control it. That was one of the reasons electives at Hogwarts started in third year, most students had a very stable core by then.

"These are muggle contact lenses; non magic folk use them like glasses, to improve their vision. My father saw a better way to use them; he created special runic seal which created small _'Protego'_ shields around your eyes. These shields will protect you from weak blinding spells and most importantly Legilimency…"

Harry bobbed his head upon hearing a new word "Say what?"

"Legilimency, Harry, Legilimency. Legilimency is to put simply… an art to read other people's minds…"

Shocked boy interrupted him with loud gasp "You mean someone could have red my thoughts? And see my memo…" Boy stopped, initial shock had left him and his brain wheels started working twice harder. _'It would be nice to read other people thoughts when, I need information…'_ He thought as he asked "Will I learn Legi..." Harry had trouble pronouncing the word first time "…Legilimency?"

Garrick once again laughed at the little boy in front of him.

"Hey, what is so funny?" Harry pouted his lip "Did I pronounce it wrong?"

"No, no dear child, I just find your enthusiasm very amusing." Replied Garrick, making the boy huff "But to answer your question; yes, you will learn Legilimency, just like you will learn Occlumency. To answer your next question, Occlumency will protect you from Legilimency."

"But didn't you just say these artifacts will protect me?" Harry asked, confused _'Why learnt it, if I have protection already?'_

"Yes, they will, but Occlumency is the first step to learn how magic works. It will help you focus better and control your emotions." Suddenly shop bell rang, making Garrick look out of the bookshelves "Well, I have customers. I will see you tomorrow, Harry."

"See you!" Harry walked up to the fireplace "Potter Manor!"

***FLASHBACK ENDS***

"…Book of students." Harry finished his sentence.

"Smart Lad…" said Mad-Eye, as his magical eye focused on the door "We have visitors."

The door opened and McGonagall, Potters and their friends entered the room. "Oh Minnie I see you finally fetched Potters? Oh, Sirius and Remus are here too! Come in! Come in, we have a lot to discuss." In spite of his cheery voice, Dumbledore looked dead serious.

"To answer your last question Harry; I checked the book of students just as you ran away, but the book was design to protect Hogwarts's students. So if, you had intention to be hidden, it would have been hidden even from me." Dumbledore sighed "I was always curious to where did Garrick found his apprentice, I can see now though."

Harry looked over Sirius who was the only one who tried to help little Harry to live through ignoring parents. The last of the Blacks who knew what Harry was going through replied with sad smile and shook his head sideways. He always pestered James around about ignoring Harry, but his best friend never listened. When the boy, he liked so much ran away, Sirius punched his friend in the face and looked at him disappointed.

Potters stared at Harry; they clearly did not know how to approach him.

Lily did not want to see the cold look in his eyes; she turned away to sob into her husband's shoulder. One of her hands unintentionally pulled Jeremy closer to her.

Jeremy tried to look stoic; he had to for his mother and father. If he would break down, it would only make things worse.

After staring at his long lost son, James sent a short glance towards his old friend as if he was asking for advice. His friend sent back a heavy look which meant "It is your choice."

James was no fool, nor was he an idiot. He knew Harry would probably never forgive him for what he has done. James also understood that Harry was not a kid and he probably could take care of himself. That being said, James thought his son would appreciate a friend more than a caring parent.

Finally making a decision on how to approach his son, James said ""Harry… son… We apologize for how we treated you all this years; we are very sorry, even though you will probably never forgive us." He gasped as Lily clutched her hand tighter. "But… if you are willing to give us a chance, we are going to show you how much you running away made us better, but we also will understand if you want to leave everything as it is. However if you need anything, you can always come to me, Lily or Jeremy." James finished as a single tear ran down his cheek.

Harry blinked in surprise; many times he had pictured this scene in his mind, but he never quiet expected… this. _'May be me leaving… actually changed them.' _Harry thought.

Thinking that he should give them a chance, Harry said "You are right, James. Your apology means nothing to me as I forgave you long ago and hate is just not in my nature. I understood it not so long and I'm willing to give you a chance. However if you want to be my friends, even a family… you need to deal with my apprenticeship under Ollivander."

"Why did you hide your name Harry?" slowly asked Jeremy, finally finding courage to ask his twin a question.

"I did not want any attention while I'm in school; same for my Master." Replied Harry easily and turned to Dumbledore, angrily "Now… Why my name came out the Goblet of Fire?"

Dumbledore slowly sank into the conjured chair. After several minutes of thinking silence, he stated "Voldemort. Considering what we know from all Jeremy's adventures, Voldemort is still alive and eager to get himself back into mortal body. I thought Voldemort would try to kidnap Jeremy for the resurrection ritual through the year, using tournament as destruction; this is why I called Alastor. The only question left is why your name burst out, not Jeremy's… and to answer it we need to look deeper into magic of the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore walked up to the goblet and started waving his wand chaotically "You see, Goblet of Fire does not care if you write your name on the piece of paper or not as long as it can identify you it works. You can write your hair colour, your weight and pretty much anything that describes you if there is no other individual that falls for your description, the goblet will understand."

As Dumbledore said that, the Goblet of Fire burst out in blue flames and spewed four different pieces of paper. Three of them were caught by an old man, but last and most important one slowly flew over to Harry and felt near his legs. Harry picked it up and read through it not able to control his emotions.

"No! No. this is not true!' Harry took in a sharp breath. Anger passed through his Occlumency shield like they were not even there. "Old man I do not know, what are you playing at, but do not add me into this mess!" Harry shouted, feeling the power which was fueled by his anger and begged Harry to let go. Adults and Jeremy looked at Harry with shock; fire aura surrounding him was terrifying. "You are trying to tell me, all I been through was just because of your mistake?! No, this is not going to work that way, Dumbledore." Felling the power pour over the edges, Harry apparated away just as his magic grew out of control burning everything around him.

"What the hell just happened?" Jeremy said still covering his face with sleeve of his robe.

"I believe, he just apparated." Dumbledore was shocked for the second time in the evening. '_How did he fire apparated?'_ he question himself. While wizards had several theories on how fire apparition worked, there was always one tiny detail. Fire apparition would burn human body and no elemental shield or cooling charm would protect you from phoenix fire.

"But… How did he do that?" Jeremy looked puzzled. It was either, Hermione was wrong when she told him you can't apparate in Hogwarts or his brother just did something impossible. Both points were equally unbelievable.

"Do you really think it is more important to than why your brother set off like that? You are as ignorant as your father is, Potter." With that, Snape picked up the piece of parchment and brought it to his eyes. He looked at the paper, his eyes repeating what Harry's eyes did just five minutes ago, widening with shock and disbelieve

"What is it? Why are you freaking out?" The Potter patriarch was highly disturbed, it should have been something big to make calm boy who was his second son to lose his emotional control.

Snape turned to his arch-enemy and showed the paper.

It read "Boy-Who-Lived"

A/N

Hello there! I'm reading fanfiction for like 4 years now and I'm kind of getting annoyed, people keep abandoning and forgetting about their own fanfiction. So I decided to write my own, to see what is going on.

This is my first work, if you see any mistakes, please write it in reviews.

A/N, number 2

I wrote the first chapter long ago and kind of, forgot that I changed fanfic's planning quite a bit. Chapter have been reworked and remade. Flashback remained the same, but reactions of several people, most importantly Harry/his family changed completely.

Well, I truly think new chapter is better and makes more sense.

Any commends would be appreciated, constructed critic and suggestions even more so.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; everything from potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling.

See you in next chapters, ArtsAwesome


	2. Chapter 2, Opposites Attract

Albus Dumbledore growled; he spent his whole night searching on Jared Ollivander and… nothing. The boy was nothing special what so ever; he had less than average grades, no special abilities, no reports of fights in the halls… Heck, he did not even play Quidditch! He was aloof to everyone and Dumbledore considered him unimportant, however his recent change into Harry Potter put him on the _'High Alert'_ list.

Albus cursed himself for not paying any attention when Severus came to him with concern; he thought that Snape was being delusional and paranoid, but now… when all cards were down, old man understood how stupid and ignorant he had been.

After several years of hiding from Grindewald who searched for Elder Wand, Garrick became the last of the Ollivander line and then… then, the accident made him impotent; Old families saw it as an opportunity to grab Ollivander's artefacts and research notes and to lesser extend money.

When Garrick showed Jared Ollivander to the world, he told them he found a very talented boy in muggle orphanage. Many families were surprised, even more found it insulting… he picked a muggleborn over the heirs of a respective, old families. How Garrick did calm them all down was still a mystery to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore rubbed his temples… if only he paid more attention, he would have seen that things were fishy.

Comeback of Harry Potter returned his old worries. Dumbledore knew since Trelawney told the Prophecy to him, he was the one to choose between the twins. He tried to make someone else choose once and… it was a disaster.

Slowly headmaster walked to the box near his pensive and poured three drops of blood on the tip of it. The box had opened and let Dumbledore pick out the smoky ball of light, the perfect copy of the prophecy which was hidden deep in Department of Mysteries.

Listening to Trelawney's voice for what light a millionth time, Dumbledore sighed; he was missing something… something important. _'The prophecies should be straight forward! Why on earth I got the one which is so damn confusing? How am I supposed to know which twin is 'chosen'?' _

Sighing in frustration again, Dumbledore shook his head and decided to rethink on everything again, later. Right now, he had another think to check.

Dumbledore took his wand out and started dispelling protections from his personal library. _'How did he fire apparated?'_ Dumbledore asked himself again as he searched for a book on phoenixes. Several minutes later, Dumbledore finally picked out a book in red leather with golden phoenix illustrated on it.

As Dumbledore opened the tome, it sung a beautiful melody. After enjoying the melody for several moments looked in the content for the right page. After finding the right chapter, Dumbledore scanned through it to find the right paragraph.

'_One of phoenixes' most notorious abilities is what we wizards call the 'Fire Apparition'. Phoenix heat itself to really high temperatures, and then starts quickly move towards its destination. The ability can work through even the strongest wards and protections. _

_However the ability does not work under water._

_Using his research in this area, Andrew Floo created the floo system…'_

Dumbledore stopped reading, it was nothing new and did not help him what so ever. He was about to close the book disappointed when his eyes stumbled over another sentence.

'_Phoenixes' tears is the only substance which can save someone from basilisks' or monticores' poisons…' _

Old Wizard looked at the book, his eye widening with excitement; it was very possible that he finally found clues to solve the prophecy.

Dumbledore ran up to the pensive with the speed which was unnatural for such old man and opened the memories drawer. Quickly, he found the right memory, poured it down the cup and dived after it shortly after.

***FLASHBACK***

"Good Morning, Jeremy! Is there is something I can do for you, this fine morning? Would you like a lemon drop?" asked Dumbledore the boy who entered his office.

"No, thank you, Professor. I just ate. I actually came to ask for Fawkes and that golden and black phoenix, they saved my life… so I just thought, I can give them some threats as my thanks." Jeremy looked at headmaster with hope "They are here, right?"

Dumbledore pressed his palms into table, curiously. He knew of the second phoenix, Dumbledore saw it in Jeremy's mind, but the boy had a near death experience and memory was dark and blur. Deciding to play dumb, Dumbledore asked "What other phoenix are you talking about? I only sent Fawkes and Sorting Hat with Gryffindor Sword."

Jeremy gave a really sad sigh; he really wanted to see that phoenix again. It felt… right, somehow. "The golden and black phoenix that came after Fawkes got injured, sir. He saved my life and I want to give it some treats in my thanks. I thought you would know where it is…"

"My, my, Jeremy, golden and black, you say? Dumbledore stroke his beard as he spoke "That is remarkable! But I do not know where it is... But Fawkes does." Dumbledore summoned his companion "Fawkes, can you call the phoenix that saved you here?" Headmaster gave the red bird a rather large apple and said "Jeremy brought you and him some tasty treats."

Fawkes gave Jeremy a nod of gratitude and sung beautiful melody, calling the other phoenix. After several seconds of waiting, another phoenix appeared in bright flash.

Newcomer was a combination of beauty and power. It had long yellow wing feathers which were covered in orange and red flames. It had glowing, golden patterns all over its coal black body and sharp black claws. The bird also had several black untameable feathers around its head which made Jeremy chuck; it reminded him of his own hair.

Jeremy slowly reached for the pack and took out one of the fruits. "I mean you no harm" he said unsure if the bird understood him. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life in the chamber. I did not know what I can give you… so after some thinking, I decided to go with treats." Jeremy waved at several packs levitating behind him "I'm forever in your debt."

Phoenix gave a small nod and brushed its wing against Jeremy surprising him; he felt no heat at all, just warm and cosy. Slowly, bird impaled the packs with its claws and with last beautiful melody it disappeared into fire.

***FLASHBACK ENDS* **

Old Man who noticed the similar features the phoenix and Harry Potter shared. Could it be possible? He did not know… but Dumbledore never took unnecessary risks, so he started getting ready for the meeting.

"This changes everything" he said to no one in particular.

Harry Potter laid on the conjured bed in the Room of Requirement, everything around him burnt down and turned into ashes.

It was early in the morning and Harry had a rough night, but he did not feel tired, in fact he felt excited and happy, his new life was about to begin.

At first he had been angry, but who would not be angry in his situation? His plan was ruined, his cover was blown and everything was mixed with the Boy-Who-Lived business.

But after some calm thinking, Harry saw his unmasking as an opportunity; the new plan was created in his brilliant mind. Tri-Wizard Tournament was perhaps the best way to show the world that Harry Potter is not just Boy-Who-Lived's brother, he is something else. At the end of his years, his apprenticeship should be concluded and then, he would able to get his owls and get his masteries diplomas.

The plan had several problems like Dumbledore and Voldemort. Harry knew Voldemort was alive, the events of second year proved it, but Dumbledore's explanation about kidnapping sounded very strained. _'Dark Lord and his followers clearly have an access to the castle he even managed to slip my name into the cup.' _thought Harry _'but… why make everything so complicated? He could just stun Jeremy from behind and drug him outside the school wards; heck! He could just stun him, get the blood and get out. Why make everything so complicated?" _wondered Harry.

It made no sense to Harry, unlike the theory he created in his mind. It was all Dumbledore's game. _'Headmaster has an access to the Book of Students, he knew I'm alive… and now, it is my time to get the spotlight and take the attention off Jeremy for whatever reasons' _Harry concluded. 

Harry calmed himself with his theory and realised another notorious change. He was finally free to be himself, Harry Potter who was passionate, intelligent, cunning, with tad too much Gryffindor rush for his own tastes. Slowly, his lips crooked into broad smile.

When his stomach rumbled, Harry realised how hungry, he was. Asking the room to clean up, Harry called "Meepo"

With loud 'Pop' a house elf appeared. He was rather tall and well-built for his race, with Ollivander's crest on his clean blanket which he used as the clothes.

"What can Meepo do for you, young master?" asked the house elf in playful, but respectful tones.

"Can you please, bring me something to eat? Like umnn… some sandwiches or something; oh, and third potion from the second drawer too."

"Your favourite Pepper Up, sir? I would advise you to do something about your clothes too, master. If you want I can share one of my blankets with you." Elf said jokingly with long smile on his face.

Harry glared at his small friend as he examined his half-burned clothes "Ha, Ha, very funny Meepo, but you are right; please, bring me robes from my trunk as well."

"Of course" And house elf vanished.

Waiting for the house elf, Harry asked the Room of Requirements to give him a small mirror. Looking over his reflection, Harry used his metamorphic talents to remove and soften all the bad defects on his face.

"Here you go, sir." Meepo said as he gave Harry the robes and put the platter with food on the bed.

"Thank you Meepo, you may return to your choirs. Oh and do not forget say 'hi' to Ignis." Harry smiled vengefully."

House elf showed its purple tongue and with last 'Pop' left Harry to himself.

After putting on fresh robes and eating few sandwiches, Harry looked at his watch again; it was near his class time. In haste, boy left the room, ready to show the world his real face.

Whirlwind Granger rushed through the students and fell on her usual place, between Jeremy and Ron. After picking her food angrily, she stuffed her mouth with sausages.

"Hey what happened, Hermione? I never say you eat like Ron before." Asked Jeremy, surprised at the girl's behaviour.

"Your brother! That is what happened." She snapped at the boys' ignorance.

Ron swallowed his pancake loudly "What did the snake did, Hermione? Did he harass you?"

Her check red from anger, Hermione shouted "Ronald! Of course not…"

"No, Ron." Jeremy interrupted the eruption of the mount Granger "I think, she is just angry that my brother beat her in every class today."

"Yes! And teachers tend to forget I'm in class! So blood frustrating and unfair!" she whined and smashed her potatoes, effectively turning them into mashed potatoes.

"Welshh, you are shhtill shhmarteshht witch to usshh Hermione." Said Ron with his mouth full, trying to calm down Hermione.

"Thank you Ron. That is so sweet." She whimpered, rubbing her nose with the end of her sleeve.

"Yeah, Hermione, you need to put yourself together; it is time, for you to toughen up for the competition." As Jeremy spoke words of support, something peculiar happened.

In one moment, every student looked to the entrance of the great hall. There, stood a tall boy with jet black hair. Ignoring stares and whispers, he walked up to the Slytherin Table and started picking his food.

Jeremy examined his brother with surprise; his twin did not look anything like expected. Instead of cold and aloof face, he had a long smile with bright light in his eyes.

His brother was about to put the salad in his mouth when he dropped his fork and without any care for the world, he ran out of the hall.

"Where did he go?" asked Hermione looking over the elder twin with strange expression.

Jeremy thought to follow his brother for a moment, but decided not to be nosy and annoying. His brother had his things to do… and Jeremy had nothing to do with it.

"We better leave my brother alone; he has rights for his privacy." Answered Jeremy and lift his bag up "Well, Let's go! We got potions and we do not want to make Snape angry, do we?

"Bestio Patefacere!" casted Dumbledore at the phoenix and quickly followed with a strong body-bind "Derigesco".

As Harry turned back into human, he cursed under his breath. He was trying to eat his lunch when he heard a phoenix's melody, a call for help. He knew it was a trap and Dumbledore figured him out, but his animal instincts took over, only letting him reach a random broom closet before apparating right into headmaster's office.

"Well played, headmaster. You got me, now what?" Harry asked, calmly. He had nothing to worry about; unregistered animagi paid rather big fee and were quickly forgotten afterwards.

Looking over the boy, Dumbledore blinked and then he blinked again. Even though he theorised the magical animagi transformation, it was still a shock to see it happen in real; the boy in front of did something extraordinary, something no one since Merlin was able to do.

It explained a lot to Dumbledore. Dumbledore finally understood how a mere child survived the killing curse; he always believed that blood wards on their own were not enough. Dumbledore finally learnt that Harry Potter was the prophesied child.

"You see Harry, before you and your brother were born, a prophecy was made…" Dumbledore said, only stop when he heard the boy laughing.

"You… actually… believe… the prophecies?" asked Harry, bursting into set of giggle with every word he said. In his joy, Harry fell off the chair, still paralysed and hit his head hard. Pain made Harry calm down, so ask again, this time seriously "No, I mean… do you actually believe the prophecies? Everyone who has at least some knowledge about them knows…"

Elder wizard levitated the boy back into the chair "No I do not, Harry, but Voldemort does. That is why it is dangerous."

Dumbledore took the orb out of his pocket and said "Listen carefully."

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"_

"And… How does it affect me? Harry said angrily, he was getting fed up with Dumbledore's charade. "What is Jeremy's secret power? Or is it Longbottom? I heard Tom Riddle was not that good at Herbology, so maybe you should give Neville some deadly plant…"

Albus gave a sad sigh "It is you, Harry who prophecy means. I believe it talks about you and your phoenix powers."

Harry gave an angry snort and finally removed the body-bind curse from his body. "You do not know the nature of phoenixes as well as you think, Professor. We are not warriors; we are creatures of hope and forgiveness. That is the prise for becoming the creature of light; I can't hate, injure or kill someone… and if I can't kill, how the hack, am I supposed to vanquish your Dark Lord? Stun him forever? Send him to the moon?"

"Harry…"

"I can't help you. It is not my war, it is not my path. It is your path, it is Jeremy's path." Harry shouted; feeling anger pass through his body as he shot small fireball at one of many artefacts Dumbledore owned.

Watching golden telescope burn, Harry felt satisfaction running through his veins. After burning several other unimportant things, he quieten enough repeat "I cannot help you professor, find yourself another hero."

Evaporating the fire, Dumbledore asked "Do you truly believe it? Will you not sacrifice yourself for others?" Looking over hesitating boy, Dumbledore smiled in his beard.

"It is not my path." Harry repeated in near whisper and left the office.

Severus Snape sat in his classroom, waiting for one particular student to enter his dungeon. Riddle of Jared Ollivander was finally solved, leaving out one question Severus wanted answer for _'will he continue playing dumb?'_

"Good morning Professor. I'm sorry, I'm late…" Students saw Harry, entering the room with the same smile he had when he enter great hall, however it did not quiet reached his ears anymore.

"You are late. Mr Potter." Potion master interrupted, not caring Harry's explanation. "May be, your new celebrity status hit you in your head? Perhaps a little quiz is an order?"

"Go ahead, sir." Harry replied, still thinking about what Dumbledore said.

"Phoenix's feathers and bicorn's horn, main of combination of…?" asked Snape his first question.

Harry's smile actually got bigger at the irony; asking the phoenix, about usage of his own feathers "…of Felix Felicis, sir, the luck potion."

"Name three potions of fifth class, the illegal usage of which will lend you in Azkaban?" Snape continued.

Harry answered without hesitation "That would be Polyjuice, Verituserum and Amortentia; there are also several darker pain potions…"

Understanding that Harry was answering all lower tier questions with ease, Severus asked a question, answer to which apprentices usually learned at one the last lessons. "Dementor's blood is an ingredient to only one potion, name it?"

Harry looked at Severus, raising one brow up; the potion, the potion master asked him about was horrible and he still had shivers when he remembered his master use it on a rat "I believe it is named Sanguine Mortis."

For one small second, Severus's eyes widen in surprise, however he quickly regained control of himself. "I heard enough, sit here with Ms Greengrass." He sat on the chair and added "…and 30 points to Slytherin for being ready for the class." Severus turned to his other pupils "Your brew is on blackboard, cauldrons on the stations, ingredients in drawers, work on it." Snape picked a newspaper, looking over the worst students from time to time.

Harry quickly brought his ingredients over and started brewing; it was relatively easy potion and it should have gone swimmingly.

Somewhere in his middle of his brewing process, Harry decided to check on other students. It was good to know who had the worst potions; exploding cauldrons were a usual thing in potion class. Looking around, he saw Granger, whose potion was very close to perfect, Jeremy and Weasley who managed to make something which looked neon-yellow, Longbottom who actually did not do that bad and Malfoy who had a relatively good potion.

Suddenly, Harry's partner called "You had a good mask Potter. I always wondered how such weakling, as Jared Ollivander created my wand."

Harry looked at the girl "Oh, yes Ms Greengrass, I remember your wand…"

***FLASHBACK***

Young Harry read a book on usage of ancient runes in wandmaking written by his master's grand grandfather, when he felt rather strong pull. His magic wanted him to get to master's shop.

Following the tugging feeling, he walked up to his master and asked "Did you call me master?"

"No I did not, what made you think so, Harry?" Garrick looked very excited, it was a good sales day with many interesting customers.

"I felt my magic pull me here…" as he said it, he saw girl of his age, sitting on small chair near who, he assumed were here parents.

Harry felt dumbstruck for a second; the girl was most beautiful thing, he saw in his life. She had light creamed coloured skin. He face had aristocratic features with pouted, full lips, petite nose and long feminine eyelashes. Her long, brown hair was tied in a very cute ponytail. When her eyes met his, young boy drew in a small breath; she had bright violet eyes which had glint of blue when she blinked.

Slowly Harry turned to his Master and asked "May, I help you with the customers master? It seems rather full today."

Garrick's first intention was to decline and asks Harry to return to his studies, but then he saw girl Aura and Harry's Aura interact and decided against it. He needed practise anyway, so Ollivander did not really mind. "Yes you can, but, be careful please."

Quickly Harry strode up to the girl and her family greeted them.

"Good Morning Mrs and Mr…"

"Greengrass…" Tall man with broad shoulders filled in "…and you young man?"

"Jared Ollivander, sir. I would help your daughter pick her wand today." Harry answered politely.

"Are you sure, you are competent? I do not want my daughter to have problems with her magic, because you gave her a wrong wand." Man's eyes displayed concern.

"I have been train for these since I was eight, sir and I sold wands before. I work just as well as my master does, just a bit slower." Harry replied his voice still polite.

"My husband is sorry to doubt you." Aleria Greengrass said with the small smile.

"It is alright, a lot of people underestimated me before." He then, blinked three times while pushing his magic to his eyes. His eye lenses switched to aura reading sight as he looked around the girl. He fought small urge to rub his eyes, the girl had bright, light blue aura envelope her body. Slowly he examined it looking for any flows.

"It is rude to stare, you know?" girl told him looking rather annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my lady. But, examination of magical auras speeds up with experience, and sadly I'm not as experience as I want to be. And that you are a special case does not help either. Which is your wand hand?"

"Right hand" said girl hesitantly.

Harry looked at her with question. _'Is she ambidextrous?'_ he wandered for a moment.

Quickly, young wandmaker picked out seven different wand boxes and said "If you did not know Mr Greengrass, your daughter is an ice elemental. I'm sure Florish&Blotts have some books on the matter. So let's try this, 12 inches, Russian three-horn's fang, snow leopard heart string and small diamond for the focus." He gave the wand to the girl.

She took it and was about to flick when Harry snatched it from her hand, seeing her aura wave in disturbance. "No, this wand is definitely not for you. Excuse me for my rather rude actions; I just did not want half of the shop freeze to death."

He took the next box. His mind screamed to pick another wand, but Harry did not bulge. "12.5 inches, Spruce and hair of the snow pixie, it is much weaker than the last wand but much more adjustable."

The girl swung the wand rather forcefully, destroying one of the bookshelves, at the back, in the process. After apologizing, she quickly gave wand back to him. Harry gave her one more wand to test, with the same result as others, before he gave in to the feeling. He took the wand from the last box and gave it to the girl.

The girl send him a surprised glance, Harry did not explain anything about this wand. When her fingers touched the surface of the wand, she knew it was for her. Room got cold and windows got frozen; it was so sudden, some customers panic at thinking those were dementors.

After witnessing such phenomenon elder wandseller looked at Harry and the family he was selling wand to, and murmured "Lucky…"

Harry had a wide smile on his face; it was long, he waited for this. He just sold his first special wand, not just normal wands that were created with standard procedures. No, this wand was different; it was one of his first experiments, his first art pieces.

"Interesting…" He whispered, and then explained out loud "This wand is rather special to me. You see, it is one of the first wands I created without supervision. And definitely one of the strongest wands we have in the store. When you use materials that come from same creature it doubles, sometimes even triples wands potential. This particular wand uses fang of winter wyvern, essence of same winter wyvern and heartstring, as you can easily guess of very same wyvern." Harry gave a small chuckle, remembering all the scolding he went through after he stole those materials and pride of his master when he actually examined the wand. "It is also stabilised by dementor's ash mixed with lethefold blood, and focused by a rather large diamond. Strong, very stable, with only one weakness, it can't do warming charms" Harry sighed, touched the wand one last time and put it back into the box.

Mr Greengrass quickly asked "How much is it? It got to be pretty expensive right? With all the materials and work went into it."

Harry walked up to the counter, picked up few packages and said "Mr Greengrass, Ollivanders never sell unique wands, we gift them, and we get full joy just from knowing the wand is in good hands." Harry slowly walk up to the girl, gave her the packages.

"In these packs, you will find guidance and anything you need to care for the wand." As Harry talked, he also picked out yet another box from the drawer. "And this is a special wandholster; I made it with little help from my master, anticipating this day. It has anti-summoning ward and cleaning charms on it, and should keep you wand in a very good condition even without polishing." Harry looked sad for a moment and then said to the girl "Please take care of the wand, it means quiet much to me."

Girl only nodded, carefully taking all the packages, as her father pushed her lightly to exit. Just before leaving Daniel Greengrass turned around and said. "Thank you"

"No. Thank you, sir." Harry replied.

When Greengrasses left, Harry turned back to get to his studies when he felt another; this time, weaker pull. With a sudden surge of inspiration, Harry ran out of the shop to Diagon Alley and called "Ms Greengrass!" When whole family turned around, Harry asked. "What is your name, Ms?" Harry looked at the girl, who noted that boy's eyes just changed to green for slight moment.

With light blush, she answered. "Daphne, my name is Daphne."

"And how old are you?" For whatever reason, Harry hoped, she was in his year.

"I am ten, why?" She looked at the ground, like if it was most interesting thing on earth.

Harry shot her a small smile, before saying "Well than, Ms Greengrass, I will see you in classes soon."

And with that, Harry quickly ran back to the shop, leaving stunned family behind. Daniel was first to regain his senses "Well that was odd? Don't you think so?" as he grabbed his daughter and apparated away.

***END OF FLASHBACK***

"…12 inches, Wyvern wand, stabilised with dementor ash and blood of lethefold, focused by diamond. It is still one of the strongest wands I crafted, is it still in good condition?"

Daphne did not answer; however, she rolled her sleeve, revealing the very same wandholster, Harry gave her long ago. Wand inside it looked like new, polished wyvern tooth and shiny gem at the back.

Harry smiled; wand was well maintained "Well, I see you took my request close to heart."

"Wand is the most important artefact in life of any wizard. Why wouldn't I care for it?" she replied without emotions.

Working on his potion, Harry could not help, but retort "You know, I still wander what happened to shy, little girl who visit my shop for a wand; I mean, I understand you are ice elemental and that's cool, but you do not need to be that cold to everyone you know?"

"She grew up, Potter; please, do not pretend, like you understand me, or my life!" retorted Daphne, feeling magic pass through her core, and temperature drop slightly; lucky for her, no one else seemed to notice anything; Harry was into his brew, carefully adding blunt green goo.

Surprised at power outburst, Daphne concentrated on her Occlumency shields, since emotions were the fuel for any element. Slowly calming unreasoned storm inside her; Daphne poured, what she thought was bristleback's snot, into her cauldron.

With the end of his peripheral vision, Harry saw Daphne adding viper's venom into her brew. Not reacting in time to stop her or get his wand, he pushed her down with his body, and shouted "GET DOWN!"

Potion reacted violently, spewing chunks of neon green acid. Students covered under tables and other furniture, letting wood and iron protect them from burning concoction.

When cauldron haltingly spilled the brew on Harry's shoulder, he cussed loudly. Feeling unbearable pain in his shoulder; Unseen to anyone else, Harry cried some tears over his shoulder. Cursing his luck, Harry rolled off the girl, and struggled in pain.

"Professor Snape, we should take him to hospital wing! I think acid burned through his shoulder…" He heard a much distorted, voice in the distance.

Trying to stand up; his shaky legs not listening to him,, and his vision blur, and his head spinning; Harry tried to reply, inhaling deeply between words "No… It's nothing…"

Before, darkness claimed him.

"Will he be ok?" asked Daphne, snapping her fingers nervously. She could not understand her pull to him; she never felt anything for boys, in fact, Daphne usually despised them greatly. Fighting off disgusting urge to run her hand through his hair, she sat on the end of his bed.

Muttering something about 'Potter Name Curse' and 'staying in hospital wing all time', Madam Pomfrey came back from her lab, bringing several bottles and jars. Putting them on other bed; she took her wand, and cast diagnosis charms. When his body glowed blue, with big green spot on his shoulder and all around it, she spoke her verdict "Strange…" glancing over confused girl she explained "The vial which you brought in; It had lacewing fly's blood in it, with addition of viper's venom. The mix quickly burned through bezoar, normal counter measure; turning the potion into close remake of poison 'Occidi Anhelum', one of most common death poisons. It works quickly; healer has around 10 minutes to aid the patient, but his body… it is… odd. Diagnosis charms… The blue colour means working healing potion. It is like if he swapped his blood to healing balsam. His blood regenerates the wound and removes the poison very quickly, faster than any wizard can."

Daphne looked at the mediwitch with frustration, it seemed like elder woman evade the answer "So, does that mean he will be ok?"

"Yes, dear, He will survive. It may take him some time, to fight the poison off though…" She stopped, looking back with interest "Why do you care anyway? You are close to him?"

Looking at the boy, whose shoulder got healthier with every moment, she answered "No, we are not friends, but he shielded me from acid, risking his life."

"You are lucky than, no doubt. I do not think you would have survived the poison…" Madam Pomfrey was interrupted, by moaning Harry.

"Daphne…? Where am I?" asked Harry, trying to fight his headache.

"Mr Potter! You are awake! Drink this and go back to sleep, your wound is not healed yet." Mediwitch gave him orange vial, which he drunk, still looking at Daphne's violet eyes.

"I think I better leave." Daphne quickly retreated to the door, breaking one of the flower pots on her way. When she already in the hallway, she shouted "Get better Potter!"

A/N

Hello! I'm not sure what the average update time is, but I'm sure this chapter is late. For those who waited, sorry.

Thanks for all reviews, favourites and follows they made my day.

Any commends would be appreciated, constructed critic and suggestions even more so.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; everything from potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling.

See you in next chapters, ArtsAwesome.


	3. Chapter 3, Great Power or Great Trouble?

Dead trees, graves and shadowy fence surrounded the land. It was dark and the air was moisture; low, black clouds never stopped raining and never let sunlight reach the ground. In the middle of the domain, stood a tall tower made of human skulls and bones. Slytherin Manor was not a nice place.

Strange, grey rat without a finger ran up the hill, towards the mansion. Upon passing through the main gate, small animal turned into a short man with little grey hair. Walking with mincing steps, the man followed the long route to the house, shivering at large grave stones and bones of the dead.

Finally reaching his destination, hump-backed man pulled the snake-doorknob, entering the darkness. Leaving the door behind, he lit the torches to find a gothic spiral staircase. Stepping up creaking wood, the man heard hissing voice "I was getting bored Wormtail, what took you so long my lowly servant?"

Proceeding to comfortable armchair with rather large, demonic baby, Peter Pettigrew kneeled and reported "B-Barty was late, milord. When he finally arrived, he gave me these." Wormtail removed small mirror from his pocket and put it in pudgy hand of the small creature.

"Barty Crouch" Voldemort hissed, calling his loyal death eater.

Mirror reflection of Dark Lord blurred and his demonic baby features turned into scarred, gloomy and paranoid face.

"Milord! Forgive me for my delay, old goat had an unplanned teachers' meeting."

"Did the plan go well?" Voldemort did not care to penalise his late servant; he was eager to know if Jeremy Potter was entered into the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

When Barty hesitated and did not reply, Voldemort roared angrily "ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

"Your plan was perfect, milord. It worked perfectly too, only one thing was a miss."

Getting angrier at servant's evasive answers, Voldemort hissed "Oh? And pray tell, what would that be Barty? It better be good, or your punishment will be most… painful."

"J-J-Jeremy-y P-Potter is not boy-who-lived; It is his brother Harry Potter, who survived that fateful night, milord." Murmured Crouch in fear.

Taken off guard by unexpected statement, Voldemort fell deep in his thoughts "Did not he die? Why did not we know the boy is alive? When Quirrell taught DaDa, he was not in Hogwarts."

"He hid under other name milord – Jared Ollivander. Old wandmaker took him as apprentice, after boy ran away from his real family."

That was very interesting; Voldemort's younger self, Tom Riddle knew Garrick. Best students of the year, they studied and made projects together very often. Both of them knew each other's capabilities very well. Tom was charms, potions and dark arts master, while Ollivander was always better at transfiguration and runes.

At the end of his fifth year, Tom made a large mistake. Asking Garrick to take a secrecy vow, Tom told him his secrets; his Hocrux, Myrtle's death and Slytherin's basilisk.

Young Ollivander's reaction was very different from expected. Instead of uniting with future Dark Lord, he spat on his face and left. They walked very different paths since that very day.

It was pity. Such strong wizard locked himself in his small shop in Diagon Alley, instead of helping Voldemort's noble course. But he was not a threat, secrecy vow assured it; and so dark side left him in piece. Someone got to make wands after all.

Three years ago, when Voldemort learnt of Jared Ollivander, he feared the boy would become strong enemy. However, his fears quickly vanished; particular student showed no skill or knowledge whatsoever.

That brought a question _'How did that excuse of a wizard survive the killing curse as a child?'_

Suddenly seeing through smoke cloud Jared Ollivander identity was, Voldemort hissed loudly "Did anything changed since his exposure?"

Scared of a very angry Dark Lord, Barty quickly replied "Precisely, milord. Teachers' meeting which delayed me was about him and his quick progress, milord. Every teacher claimed he has power and knowledge beyond his year's milord. If you want a strong blood for the ritual, he would be the best choice."

Magical powers were always more important than raw power in Voldemort's rule book, so he only found fitting to ask "Any interesting abilities?"

"Yes, milord. At champions' night, he performed the metamorphic transformation and what Dumbledore thinks is fire apparition. A day afterwards, he used his body to protect the pureblood girl from deadly poison and survived. Then, the boy finally had a class with me. I used Moody's eye to search him; he literally had three wands up his sleeves. He easily fought off my strongest Imperio… I think that is about it, milord" Barty spilled all he knew, eager to prove his usefulness as a spy.

Voldemort sat more comfortably in the chair and thought for a very long time before he asked "do you think he will support the light side?'"

"No, milord. The boy is Slytherin's Slytherin. He does not put his head on scaffold and stayed neutral in every Slytherin/Gryffindor conflicts so far."

Voldemort's baby lips crooked into another creepy smile. If Harry Potter was indeed the prophesised child, things could be easier than he thought.

They were very similar. Each of them grew up in bad environment, quickly leaning to be smart, cunning and resourceful. All those Slytherin traits were boost with magical power, making them the best of the best. But like any real Slytherin they hid their true face; Harry made another identity and Tom pretended to be sweet and innocent boy in front of elders; so when the push comes to shove, their enemies would underestimate them.

Thinking they were alike, Voldemort wanted to persuade the boy to his side. He would be good addition to his inner circle; may be even better right hand than Lucius, who was too much of a politician.

Liking his chances to turn the boy dark, Voldemort gave a slow, evil laugh and said "Boy is not my enemy to use his blood in ritual, Barty. I have far better plan, far better plan."

Hogwarts was quiet; everyone, but several teachers and students were asleep. One of the night-walkers, Daphne Greengrass skilfully sneaked through hallways, avoiding caretaker's predictable paths and leaving Mrs Norris her usual dose of catnip envenomed with weak sleeping draught.

Quickly leaving castle through the secret passage, Daphne looked up at the sky. Day was still young, starts were clear and the sun was unseen.

Carefully passing through Hagrid's lighted hut, she walked into trees of Forbidden Forest.

There, she quickly found rumbling stream which led her to small pond. Walking over muddy ground with small puddles, she finally reached the pool. Still water reflected starts and new moon, creating the beautiful sight.

Letting her Occlumency shield down, she closed her eyes and let her emotions flow. Her feelings took the lead and with a little effort, her magic flew and freeze everything around her.

Finally opening her eyes, she smiled happily and looked over the crystal ice. She never liked hiding her feelings and abilities, but it was necessary.

When Daphne was ten years old, her core began to stabilise. To her parents' pride, she easily learned how to control ice magic, easily making small ice statues for her sister and feel even slightest changes in temperature.

But months went by, her abilities grew stronger and control got more difficult.

It all came to one day, when her friend Tracey Davies and her parents, visited Greengrass Manor. Happy to see her best friend, Daphne embrace the girl in a bone crashing hug, freezing her skin and bones in the process.

It was Tracey's pure luck, she survived. Daniel Greengrass acted quickly, defrosting her with powerful heating charm, he sent poor girl to St. Mungo for healer's treatment.

Tracey's parents who knew of Daphne's powers did not blame her for what happened and her best friend forgiven her quickly.

Daphne however, did not quiet forgive herself. Thinking she was a monster, a danger towards the world Daphne locked herself in her room with large block of ice; only letting house elves bring her food and water.

Her solitary actions stopped two days later, when Daphne's father got tired of her broodings. After Burning through her ice, Daniel gave his daughter warm hug and explained her errors of her ways. With family support, she became close to normal and started talking to people again.

But nightmares of the memory did not fade, replaying it in her mind every other night. In her fears, Daphne became more wary, paranoid even. She did not let people touch her and stopped participating in emotional discussions.

Three month before Hogwarts, her father taught her Occlumency. Already having strong emotional control, Daphne easily grasped the basics and improved her mind defences quickly.

Going to Hogwarts, Daphne hid her emotions behind strong mental shields. Whoever tried to communicate with her was pushed away by hard, cold façade which did not let anyone, but her friends in.

Her emotionless control did not lust very long. In her third year, Daphne's close friends: Tracey and Blaise went to Hogsmeade as a couple, leaving her behind. Looking at happy teens from a far, Daphne could not help, but feel jealous and lonely. With smaller feelings came strong anger and questions _'Why me? Why was I cursed with this 'gift'? Why can't I just be like other kids?'_

Emotions were banging on her mind shields, like a battering-ram on castle's doors. Her mental defences did hold long, but gave her just enough time to escape into shades of Forbidden Forest where no one would see her.

There, bottled emotions finally overpowered her, shuttering her mental defences with ease and let her magic free. Not able to cooperate with immense amount of power passing through her body, she fainted

Waking up next morning, she quickly ran to the castle. Exiting the forest near Hagrid's pumpkin garden, Daphne stopped in awe.

Black lake was covered with solid, crystal ice; it was clear enough to see giant squid hiding from the cold. Everything around Hogwarts was covered in brilliant white show, which was very unlike common British winter.

Passing through students who played with snow or skated on ice, Daphne finally got into warm castle to find her best friend. Daphne quickly found Tracey studying in the library.

Pretending she left Hogsmeade early and then stayed in her room, Daphne asked Tracey for what happened. Tracey quickly told her about violet hail that went through village, destroying many dates and injuring several younger students.

Daphne quickly connected the snowstorm to herself. The powers she shut down many times before did not leave, accumulating in her for years and waiting for smallest of emotional outbursts to get free and wreak havoc around her.

Solution to her new problem was found promptly; to prevent another explosion, her magic required a discharge once in a while. So since then, every Sunday, Daphne left to Forbidden Forest and let her magic flow wild and free.

It was brilliant to cooperate with her powers instead of fighting it, but it was never worth the trouble which came with it.

Looking over human-sized, ice replica of Hogwarts, Daphne sensed familiar, warm breeze shiver down her back.

Quickly she turned her head and took her wand out. Looking over her shoulder, girl saw large, flaming bird melting ice from one of the branches of the closest tree. Making wood warm, phoenix clutched its black claws around the twig and looked back curiously.

"Oh, it is you. Do me a favour; do not sneak at me like that again. You scared me." Her wand easily slid back into her holster.

Daphne thought of the phoenix as of the guardian of Forbidden Forest. Over several months she knew it, she saw glimpses of the bird helping younger unicorns and centaurs, which were attacked and injured by hordes of acromantulas.

Daphne was glad she met the Phoenix; without him, she would probably be dead.

Near Christmas holiday, her father was invited to attend an annual ministry party. Circumstances did not allow him to disagree, leaving him no other choice, but to accept the offer.

When Daphne got a letter from her father telling her she had to stay in a room with hundreds of people, socialise and dance; she freaked out and panicked.

Forgetting security measures and Azkaban escapees, Daphne carelessly ran into Forbidden Forest. Moving quickly through trees and bushes, Daphne felt cold follow her. After reaching one of many clearings, she slowed down to take a break. Breathing in full lungs of cold air, she finally felt its unnaturalness, wrongness.

Looking into dark shadows of trees, Daphne found blur figures slowly floating towards her. She lit a tip of her wand, finally recognizing grey, hooded shadows – dementors and a lot of them. Unintentionally walking backwards, Daphne tripped over one of long roots.

Lying on muddy ground weak and hopeless, Daphne tried to put up small ice shield to delay Dementors. But it was worthless; feelings were the fuel to her powers and she had not had them in presence of dark creatures.

Her doom incoming, Daphne closed her eyes and thought goodbye to her family; strong father who put family happiness as his first priority; loving mother who always had advice and word of wisdom; and lively, little Astoria who turned even rainiest days into sunny ones.

Dementors slowly feasted on the poor girl, enjoying it. It was rare for them to get the meal so young, so innocent and fresh; usually, they ate on dangerous criminals whose souls were empty, broken shells.

One of hungrier dementors had enough; biting on happiness was fun, but swallowing the soul was completely different experience. Slender fingers reached the long, grey hood, revealing entrancing, dark void hidden behind it.

The dementor grabbed her neck in a chocking motion, moving girl's face closer to the abyss. Line between dimmed, starting the 'kiss'.

Feeling dementor's sharp digits leave her neck, Daphne heard heart-warming melody. Feeling hope and love go through her body and her strength return, she thought that death was not that bad.

Pitiful about her short life, Daphne slowly opened her eyes; but instead of whiteness or whatever the heaven was, she saw very same trees of Forbidden Forest.

Happy and confused that her life was not over, she quickly stood to her feet to see large flaming bird fending off dementors. As soon as they were dealt with, it turned back to her.

Remembering one of children' story books, Daphne recognized the bird as a phoenix. Dementors forgotten, she looked at the bird with awe; majestic creature was truly indescribable.

Phoenix gave her laughing trill at her look, flew several circles around her and finally nested on her shoulder, letting the smiling girl pet him.

It was the start of their strange, but beautiful friendship.

Daphne returned her eyes to flaming bird which hanged upside-down like a bat and pretended to snore. Laughing at the imitation, Daphne asked "Hey! So what are we doing today?"

Phoenix ignored her and continued his sleeping act. Mischievous smile fall on her face; silently, she conjured rather big ice cube in her fist and quickly shot it towards black beak.

Upon getting hit, flaming bird lost its grip around the branch, swung its wings in a try to regain upwards position and loudly fell to ground. Making a pouting sound, phoenix flew after the girl who fleeted into the forest as her projectile reached its mark.

Skating away from chasing bird, Daphne turned around and poked her tongue. Not able to repay the gesture the phoenix dashed into the girl, pushing her down and making both of them roll down in soft snow.

Falling on her back with the bird right next to her, Daphne laughed "I never had this much fun in ages!"

Turning her head to her friend, Daphne noticed something peculiar "Your eyes… They are just like Olli… I mean Potter's." Thinking it was just a coincidence, Daphne scratched her head wondering "Why did Dumbledore ask us to call him by his real name anyway? It makes no sense to me."

Phoenix looked thoughtful for split second and then gave her short trill, which probably meant "I have no idea."

Shaking off her thoughts about Potter, Daphne returned her eyes to the sky. Dawn light touched tops of the trees, telling Daphne it is time to go back to the castle. With sad sigh, Daphne pet black feathers one last time before bidding her farewell "Sun is up; my friends will wake up soon. I need to go back, will you come next Sunday?"

Bird twittered approvingly, flapped its wing once more and left in flames.

Looking over frozen pond, Daphne sighed and returned to the castle.

"All of you are fourteen, soon to be fifteen. At your age most wizards experience sudden jumps in your magical power; some spells become usable and new abilities will be discovered. Changes in powers are connected directly to your magical core; which is why we discuss them today." Professor Flitwick lectured a small auditorium of fourth year students.

"But before we jump too deep into it, who can tell me: What is a magical core?"

When two hands went up into the air; one was quick, eager to prove its knowledge and another was slow and thoughtful, Half-Goblin was not surprised at all. The week Harry Potter had been in his class, he showed exceptional knowledge and magical power.

"Well Mr Potter, I think you had answered enough questions last week. So Ms Granger, please tell us what do you know about magical cores."

Hogwarts's greatest bookworm smiled happily and answered in memorized fashion "The magical core is an essence of life, the most important part of any living creature. It consists of 4 parts: Inner Core, Outer Core, Mental Core and Passive Core."

Bushy haired witch inhaled, remembered the next part of her speech and continued "The Inner Core is a resource of all magic; it is where magic stays and gets replenished if wasted. The Inner Core is the only core which can be enlarged by training, improving your magical stamina and durability. Raw magic from the Inner Core flows Into the Mental Core which is connected deeply to our mind. It lets us wield magic at our will, but also makes us vulnerable to spells like Obliviate and Confundus. Over years, researchers found that muggles are impervious to mental arts or spells, leading them to believe muggles lack the Mental Core which explains the inability to use magic. With proper intent, magic is getting focused in the Outer Core. This is where magic turns into spells and abilities. The stronger it is; the stronger spells and runes you can use. It is measured in Octanes, from one to seven. First Octane is for squibs and seventh Octane is also called unachievable. The Last, but not the least is a Passive Core which unlike Mental Core is connected to our body. It heals diseases and helps in case of poisonings and injuries."

"Impressive as always Ms Granger" Flitwick praised the panting girl. He then, looked around the auditorium "Oh! Mr Potter anything to add?"

Ignoring Hermione who huffed angrily, Harry took his school wand out of the holster and replied "Yes, Sir. I just wanted to say that there is a fifth core we use every day – the Wand Core. Our Mental and Outer Cores are not tuned enough to use magic wandlessly. For example: simple spell 'Accio' if used wandlessly will probably pull you to the object instead of bringing the object to you. Our wand movement and chants help us direct magic correct…"

Harry could not finish; the door to the classroom opened loudly and let redhead third year, Colin Creevey enter.

After quickly apologizing for interrupting the class, the boy called "Ludo Bagman and other people from Tri-Wizard Tournament asked for Harry Potter; he needs to attend the Wand Lifting Ceremony."

"Well, I'm pretty sure we can discuss this another time Mr Potter; be free to join me in my small club on Thursday." Flitwick tapped his foot sadly.

"I will. Thank you, professor." Harry hanged his schoolbag around his shoulder and followed younger boy outside.

Walking through the halls, Harry was getting more and more anxious to finally meet his master. Over years of apprenticeship, elder man became his grandfather in everything but the blood. He always helped in hard situations and had advice when young boy was troubled.

Harry hoped he would know what to do; since Harry, himself was not sure.

It looked simple at first; rampage through three tasks with style and elegance, get highest OWLS in centuries and become youngest master in several magical fields.

However the Prophecy made everything very complicated. Remembering old saying 'Great minds think alike', Harry deducted that both: Dumbledore and Voldemort jumped to conclusion that he is prophesised child.

That made him part of the future war; the war, Harry wanted nothing to do with.

Deep into his thoughts, Harry did not realise they reached their destination. Colin pointed at large, wooden door and said "It is here. Jeremy, his friends and I will cheer for you. Good Luck."

Giving the boy quick "Thank You", Harry pushed the doorknob down and entered the room. Looking around, he quickly spotted other champions talking quietly near the fireplace. Upon seeing him walk to them, they quickly stopped talking and looked at each other.

Feeling like an outsider, Harry did not approach them and leaned against the opposite wall.

After several minutes of waiting, Ludo Bagman, reporters, teachers and Garrick Ollivander finally joined them.

Ludo quickly took the stand and said "Well, everyone is here. Mr Ollivander, you may start."

"Good Morning champions, hello Harry." Wandmaker greeted the teens. Looking over each champion with aura vision, Garrick quickly said "Well, ladies first!"

French girl walked to the wandmaker with grace of a swan and quickly gave him her wand. Old fingers ran around the red wood, identifying elements of the wand. "Interesting, very interesting… 10.2 inches, cherry… umnn… with a hair of a veela and runic drawings on the handle for better power use; very good for bewitching and mental magic.

Harry nodded to himself, trying to recognize runic seal from a far. Quarter veela had the wand of an animal tamer; calming animals down without actually injuring them was a tough work without the right wand.

Analysing what he learnt, Harry nearly missed the moment when Bulgarian seeker gave his wand to his master.

"It is Gregorovitch's creation, am I right? This is so… him." Not waiting for response, Ollivander continued "11.5 inches, oak and heartstring of Ukraine Ironbelly… with topaz for more flexibility; not very adjustable, but very strong."

Harry noted to be more careful when duelling Krum; such strong wand in hands of the best student in Durmstrang could always prove dangerous.

After trying several simple spells with the wand of Bulgarian, the wandmaker quickly took the wand from next champion. "Oh this one is mine!" he said enthusiastically "9.8 inches, chestnut and a unicorn hair… It is in very fine condition, you treat regularly?

"Polished it last night" replied Cedric, smiling.

Looking over small, conjured birds, Harry took his wands out with a sharp stab motion.

His first plan was to hid his twin wands, so in case he lost his school wand he would have two other wands up his sleeve; however tournament rules mentioned _'true wands'_ and left Harry no other choice, but to give his real wands to his master.

Putting his wands into the hand of elder man, Harry saw Rita Skeeter who was hiding in the corner, was writing in her note-pad with an astonishing speed and fought an urge to sigh; he was sure he would be represented as a cry-baby or future Dark Lord in the next Prophet article.

"Oh, how much time we spent creating them, do you remember Harry?" said the wandmaker following the rune patterns with his fingers. "Twin wands, 13.5 inches, basilisk fangs and phoenix feathers stabilised with the mix of phoenix tears and basilisk venom; your blood which we added in the mix makes you the only owner the wands can have. Both wands have more than 10 different rune seals and 5 different gems. Your ingenious gem switching rune seal makes the wands very flexible and basilisk fang and poison combination made this wand really strong. These are probably strongest twin wands this world saw."

Harry inhaled in relieve; his master did not go into details and abilities of twin wands.

By the end of examination, everyone in the room looked shocked; everyone, but Dumbledore who had his normal twinkles in his eyes and Ludo Bagman who looked like he was going to die from overexcitement.

After several minutes of awkward silence, Karkarov woke up and called "Well, I and Victor have things to do. So if you do not mind, we will take our leave."

"Yes, yes. Let's take the picture for Daily Prophet and then you all are free to go." Ludo replied with large smile on his face.

The man with camera equipment quickly moved forward to set it up. He moved champions together, separated them in pairs and took solo portraits, all while snapping photos and asking teens to smile.

When the man finally finished, Harry was exhausted; posing just like the man asked was much tougher than creating wands or casting hard spells.

Looking at everyone else leave, Harry slowly walked to his master who sat in the corner waiting for him.

"Good Afternoon, master." Harry said in greeting, conjuring soft armchair.

"Hello Harry, how are you doing?" asked Garrick with small smile on his face.

"I… never been these lost in my life. I do not even know where to start the tale." Harry shook his head.

"It is good to start form the beginning, my boy. Start from the beginning."

Harry sighed and told the story, from where he thought was the beginning - the Champions' Night. His confusion about being chosen; small fight with other schools; surprise at his family reaction; his anger at Dumbledore and the power outburst; the next morning and the relieve which came with it; More anger at Dumbledore followed by denial of the Prophecy and even more problems.

His master listened without interrupting; it looked like if his mind was somewhere far, far away doing other things. When Harry finally finished his tale, he looked into deep emerald eyes and said "My dear boy, you are to concern about things; a lot like me when I was younger - many goals, many dreams and nothing on the way to achieve them. But in my race for knowledge and power, I lost the thing you can only have once in your life – childhood. When I understood what I missed… it was too late for me." Garrick put his hand on young boy's shoulder and smiled warmly "It is not too late for you."

Harry returned his eyes to the fireplace and asked "How am I supposed to be a child? I'm different from you, master. You had a chance to be a child and you missed it; I was robbed it, I did not have that chance at all. That is what happens when your parents forget and ignore you since you were little; you just have no other choice, but to grow early…"

"You are wrong, Harry. There is a child somewhere deep within you; somewhere behind that mask of Jared, worries and knowledge. Remember the Christmas when I gifted you the broom? Or the time when you sold your first wand? You have been a child before; those were rare moments, yes. But they are still there. Follow you heart Harry, it will bring you to happiness."

Harry had problems proceeding what his master told him "So… you are telling me to be child when there is are war incoming with one of the sides wanting me dead and another wanting me to be their fighting chance?"

"Yes." Garrick answered simply. "Better live a short happy life than a long and boring one; believe me Harry, I know. And I also know that any challenge or task you will have in future, you will face them with pride and come out the winner. Believe in yourself, Harry and do not overthink the situation."

"Still, I got no idea what to do with other people, but you… I may act confident, but somewhere deep inside I'm scared to let people close to me; scared of being rejected just like I was rejected by my parents. I do not feel like I need them and I think I better off without them."

"Harry, let me tell you a story. In my Hogwarts years when I walk through these halls as a student, I met a boy. That boy was a half-blood, but his parents died and he lived in muggle orphanage. Muggle kids always bullied and picked at him for being different, for being the wizard. Just like you, he spent his time with books and dreamt of greatness. He dreamt to show everyone, they were wrong picking on him; just like you dream to show the world that they were wrong forgetting you. He wanted it so badly; he did unforgivable and turned into monster… Being alone turned him into that…" Ollivander sighed and tightened his hold on Harry's shoulder. "Harry, I know you have a soul of the phoenix, but it can change; dark magic does that to people… Promise me to try to be a child in this year, Harry. Promise me to try to befriend someone, anyone at all."

Harry ran his hand through his hair and met his master's eyes "I promise… to try, but… I really do not who to friend…"

"How about the girl, you looked at, this breakfast?" Garrick winked.

"How do you know?" Harry asked; one of his eyebrows went up.

"I was having chat with Dumbledore. You did not see me?"

"No"

"Returning to the topic…" Garrick crossed his hands together.

"It is not going to work, she is too…" Harry wanted to say '_Good for me', _but said "…cold to everyone" instead.

"You are the phoenix, I'm sure you can melt through her coldness." Elder man looked at the watch installed into his wand holster. ", I have international wandcrafters' guild to attend in thirty minutes. I will see you at your first task, Harry." The man quickly walked to fireplace and called "Ollivander's Shop!"

"Good bye, master." Replied Harry, even more lost then before the meeting.

Marking homework of one of many idiots, Severus Snape felt sudden ache near his shoulder. Rolling up his sleeve and removing white bandage, he discovered an outlined Dark Mark. He stared at it with pure shock.

Just a week ago when Severus checked his shoulder; the mark was blur shade of what it used to be, but now… it was something very close to real, living mark.

Stunned by his discovery, Snape did not see a shadow approach him slowly. Sneaking behind him, shadow turned into a woman who quickly pointed her wand at the long, pale neck of potion master

"Remember me, Severus?" she whispered.

Recognizing the voice, Snape slowly turned his head and said "Bellatrix Lestrange…"

"Your true master is coming back soon and has a job for you."

"I will be most happy to serve our Lord again, dear Bellatrix." Replied Snape neutrally, pretending to smile.

"Well then, give me the oath of secrecy and promise to help our course and I will tell you what to do. Just to let you know, if you say "no" to oath; I will blast your head off.

"My loyalty always had been with our Lord and still is, Bella. But if you insist: I, Severus Snape promise to help the course of Dark Lord, no matter what. Now put that wand into your pocket and tell me what the job is."

Woman with black, curly hair put his wand back into the holster and replied "For now it is simple; once in a week or so, I will visit you to get the best replenishing potions you can make. Sometime later, you will get a document with instructions; follow them perfectly or you will be called a traitor in our circle." She turned back to the door, when she remembered another, less important part of the plan "Oh, and make as much problems and troubles between Potter brother."

With that, she morphed back into the shadow and left the office.

A/N

Hello my dear readers!

Last chapters 2 or 3 reviewers mentioned that everyone called Harry 'Potter' is wrong. I agree it does not make sense and when you have a plot hole… blame it on Dumbledore; it actually works with old man's plan, so I put it in.

Daphne's backstory and Harry's struggles have been introduced.

I also stopped putting millions of commas everywhere, so I hope it will be easier for you to read.

Things will finally start moving in next chapter and much more action will be going on.

Any commends would be appreciated, constructed critic and suggestions even more so.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; everything from potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling.

See you in next chapters and thank you for reading, ArtsAwesome.


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